REGULAR SEASON

EAST       WEST        
  Carleton 19-3 28-6 Dave Smart Western 19-3 30-4 Craig Boydell  
  York 17-5 29-11 Bob Bain Guelph 16-6 22-11 Chris O’Rourke  
  Ryerson 14-8 18-12 Terry Haggerty McMaster 15-7 23-14 Joe Raso  
  Toronto 10-12 14-19 Ken Olynyk Wilfrid Laurier 12-10 18-16 Peter Campbell  
  Laurentian  9-13 10-20 Virgil Hill Brock 10-12 19-16 Ken Murray  
  Ottawa  7-15 10-25 David DeAveiro Windsor  9-13 13-19 Mike Havey  
  Queen’s  5-17  6-24 Scott Meeson Lakehead  7-15 12-20 Lou Pero  
  RMC  1-21  3-28 Craig Norman Waterloo  6-16  9-20 Tom Kieswetter  
                   

Playoff non-qualifiers:

       Lakehead Thunderwolves: Ryan Bishop, Matt Brown, Aaron Casella, Jeremie Clarke-Okah, Matthew Coulson, Matthew Erdman, Matthew King, Matt Koeslag, James Purcell, Steven Reid, Jeff Rosar, Aaron Rost, Ryan Sinninghe, Dan Zapior, David Gordanier, Jeff Rosar, coach Lou Pero

       Queen’s Golden Gaels: Trevor Capern, Reilly Musselman, Duncan Cowan, Reed Macmillan, Jason Natalini, Will Featherstonhaugh, Jon Cudney, John Howison, James Bambury, Mark Blackman, Andrew Cooper, Matthew Gennings, Todd McDonald, Brad Millington, Iain Reid, Tyler Sauerbrei, John-Michael Irving, M. Reed MacMillan, coach Scott Meeson

       RMC Paladins: Bayo Ajayi, Grant Anderson, Jonathan Carreiro, Nathan Carreiro, Kevin Dulude, Andrew Garsch, Chad Gehl, Joe Grozelle, Gabriel Hanselpacker, Jerome Patry, Steve Scriver, Sean Danchuk, Francis Dumont, coach Craig Norman

       Waterloo Warriors: Andrew Coatsworth, Shane Cooney, Chris Edwards, Ryan Evans, Steven Hollinger, Graham Jarman, Paul Larsen, Gerard Magennis, Milidrag Milidrag, Dave Munkley, Bryan Nichol, Mike Sovran, Josh Van Wieren, Andrew Westlake, coach Tom Kieswetter

In the East quarterfinals, 5th-seeded Laurentian dumped 4th-seeded host Toronto 70-61. The Voyageurs took an early 36-26 lead and withstood a late Blues rally. Laurentian held Toronto to .393 from the floor, while Jim Jefferson scored 25 points. Chris Tilley added 18 and grabbed 10 boards, while Jermaine Pendley scored 13 and had 4 rebounds. Tom Grochmal led the Blues with 18. Matt Sturgeon added 9. “It’s really tough for these guys because they lost in front of the home crowd,” Blues coach Ken Olynyk told the Varsity. The Blues took an early six-point lead but soon lost their focus. “It came down to defensive lapses and recognition on our part,” said Sturgeon. “It’s costly when you can’t stop key guys from scoring.” Toronto pulled within four in the second half as Tom Grochal nailed a trey and a pair of free throws. “Our strong effort brought us back in the second but we couldn’t finish [the comeback],” said Grochmal. Toronto tied the game with four minutes to play on a Paul Zyla bucket but Jefferson buried a trey and then notched a jumper to give the Voyageurs a measure of separation. “He really shut the lights out on us tonight,” said Grochmal. “His success was our failure.” Blues coach Ken Olynk said his team played well, “but got a little disjointed defensively.” He also lamented 12 turnovers. “The effort was good, but the execution wasn’t.” The Varsity Blues (coached by Olynyk) also included Louis Pahis, Eric Wagner, Kofi Kusi-Achampong, Michael Goldfarb, Johnathan Taweel, Dayo Baiyewu, Viktor Bezic, Joe Heale, Kenny Hilborn, Nathan Lee and Michael Tatham.

       In the other East quarterfinal, 3rd-seeded Ryerson defeated 6th-seeded Ottawa 71-67 as all-star Errol Fraser took over the game in the second half. Fraser rallied the Rams from an 18-point deficit early in the second half, tying the game with a late three-pointer. Post Jon Reid gave the Rams a two-point lead with a hook in the lane. Veteran Gee-Gee Drew Moir hit 1-2 from the line after getting fouled on a baseline drive and fourth-year forward Jeff Dallin missed the front end of a one-and-one to seal Ottawa’s fate. Ottawa packed the paint in the first half and provided early help to neutralize Fraser’s drives to the bucket as they took a 37-24 lead at the half. Freshman Marco Jovic nailed a long three early in the second half to give Ottawa a 42-24 lead but then the Gee-Gees stopped defending and began turning the ball over, allowing Fraser, Jan-Michael Nation and Reid to get easy looks and ignite a 15-0 run to tie the game. Jovic shot Ottawa back to a seven-point lead but the Gee-Gees turnover problems continued. Fraser led Ryerson with 24 points. Jovic paced Ottawa with 28. “We didn’t have enough experience and we didn’t get any breaks,” said Gee-Gees coach David DeAveiro. “Ryerson has a couple of guys that can take over a game for them. We don’t have that. … I’m very proud of our guys. They did everything we asked them to and more. They deserved the reward for their effort and it didn’t come through. It hurts.” The Gee-Gees (coached by David DeAveiro) also included Gianni Costantiello, Jeff Dallin, James Derouin, Jesse Jones, Drew Moir, Fitzallen Sutton, Jeff Armstrong, Uchenna Ejiogu, Andrew Gayle, Chris Holwell, Teti Kabetu, Andrew Love, Omara-Ben Ojara, Greg Sam and Eric Stenstrom.

       In the East semis, top-seeded Carleton defeated 5th-seeded Laurentian 71-60. The teams were tied at 33 at the half before the Ravens wore down the Voyageurs. Laurentian had controlled the tempo for the first 34 minutes of the affair, slowing the game to a crawl. The Ravens struggled for the win. “Sometimes, when you have good talent kids, their weakness is they don’t believe in themselves as much as they should,” said coach Dave Smart. The Ravens won with timely three-point shooting, while wearing down the Voyageurs. They pulled away in the final eight minutes of play as Josh Poirier took command in the paint. He finished with 19 points. Carleton maintained a slim lead for most of the first half. But Pendley and Jefferson bombed from the perimeter and the Voyageurs hit .536 from the floor as they kept it close in the first half. “I thought that our guys did a lot better job of letting them go to their strengths (in the second half) said Smart. The Ravens improved their shooting from .394 in the first half to .556 in the second half. Maseruka hit a pair from the beyond the arc as Carleton took a 58-52 lead and held on. Ben Doornekamp gave the Ravens their biggest lead at 61-54 with 5:10 to play. Maseruka finished with 11 points. Jermaine Pendley led Laurentian with 20, Jim Jefferson added 16. The Voyageurs (coached by Virgil Hill) also included Robert Annecchini, Patrick Brandt, Dwayne Burton, Justin Colley, Ryan Done, Jermaine Glenn, Craig O’Neil, Jacob Raskevicius, Christopher Tilley and Colin Yates.

       In the other East semi, 2nd-seeded York defeated 3rd-seeded Ryerson 59-53. The Rams (coached by Terry Haggerty) included Jan Michael-Nation, Dwight Chambers, Jon Reid, Errol Fraser, Tim Lockett-Smith, Calvin Celestine, Brandon Emmanuel, Bojan Catic, Scott Afful, Hakeem Baiyewu, Mark Ibrahimovic, Shaun Lewis, Bojan Lucic, Vladimir Matevski, Andrew Rodney and P.J. Kerr.

       In the East final, 2nd-seeded York defeated top-seeded Carleton 77-75 as Yeoman guard Dean Labayen hit a series of acrobatic buckets down the stretch, including a series of 18-foot fadeaways with 2-3 Ravens hanging on him. Carleton led by 10 midway through the second half but Labayen rallied the Lions back. The Ravens took an early 9-8 lead but were then held scoreless for 10 minutes and trailed 36-26 at the break, shooting, just .370 in the first half, being out-rebounded 19-15 and committing 11 turnovers. Carleton slowly chipped away at York’s lead, tying the score at 57 with 8:39 to play. With York’s Ryan French and Tom Romas fouling out with over eight minutes to play, Carleton appeared poised to win. But Yeoman guard Dean Labayen took command, scoring 18 in the second half en route to a 29-point night. Carleton moved ahead 62-59 on free throws by Josh Poirier and Mike Smart. Game tied at 74 with 48 seconds to play. Poirier hit a free throw. But Labayen hit a fadeaway jumper, that Carleton coach Dave Smart later called “ridiculous.” Carleton missed two shots to take the lead and York added a free throw. It was only the second Carleton loss to an OUAA team all season but the Ravens could not qualify for a wild card at the nationals under the new system, which awarded an automatic third berth to Canada West in 2002. “We knew what we had to do and we didn’t do it,” said Smart.

       In the West quarterfinals, the 5th-seeded Brock Badgers defeated the 4th-seeded Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 63-58 as Kevin French came off the bench to score 17 and grab 8 boards. The Golden Hawks took an early 10-1 lead but the Badgers responded with a 14-2 run over five minutes to play. The Badgers led 30-24 at the half and held the lead until nine minutes to play in the second half, when Laurier took a slim lead. But veteran Badgers Jamie Duncan and Ryan Dudley hit a pair of critical buckets as Brock regained the lead with 5 minutes to play and eventually iced it at the line on two free throws apiece from Duncan and Dudley. Duncan finished with 20, including 15 in the second half. Kevin Stienstra added 10 and Ryan Dudley 9. Brock shot 3-11 from the arc and 24-51 from the floor. French told the St. Catharines Standard that “in a game like that, you’re not wanting to think it’s your last game but you kind of have to keep in mind that it might be. You have to take the shot if you’ve got it and help your team.” Badgers coach Ken Murray said “Duncan hit some big hoops and Dudley’s three (with 4:37 to play) helped us. (As well, French) you could really see how smooth he was out there.” Adam Rogers led Laurier with 13 points and 13 boards. Chris Keith added 11 points, Chris Caruso 10 and Todd Cooney 10. The Hawks (coached by Peter Campbell, assisted by Jamie Lockington and Paul Falco, manager Melissa Amadio, student trainer Beth Doxsee, massage therapist Julie Weigell, chiropractor David Orchard, SID Patrick Duggan) also included Wade Currie, Robert Green, James Hudson, Dan Jonker, Allan Lovett, Andrew MacKay, Cam Maxwell, Jason Popofski, Predrag Radovic, Tyrone Bonas, Todd Cooney, Akanni Frederick and Darren Veira. The Golden Hawks shot poorly down the stretch, even missing a fastbreak layups and three gimmes on one trip up the floor. Still they had a chance to tie it with 13 seconds to play but Andrew MacKay missed a three-pointer and four fastbreak layups on one trip up the floor. Laurier shot 23-59 from the floor and 2-10 from the arc.

       In the other West quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded McMaster Marauders dozed through the first half but eventually awoke, played a bit of defence and whipped the 6th-seeded Windsor Lancers 63-46. The Marauders took an early 11-7 lead but Windsor responded with a 16-1 run to take a 23-12 edge. Reserve Mark Maga hit eight points shortly before the break to knot the score at 32 at the half. McMaster took control in the second half as forwards Graham Hewitt and Adam Guiney asserted themselves on the glass and scored at will. The Marauders held the Lancers to just 14 points in the second half. Marauders coach Joe Raso told the Hamilton Spectator that “it was like we came off the bus. We were very sluggish. It was not a real intense first half us until the final three minutes. … We played very strong defence in the second half. Any time you can hold an OUA team to 14 points in a half, that’s good. Offensively, we just weren’t there.” Hewitt led all scorers with 21 points, in addition to 8 rebounds. Ben Katz added 12 points and 7 boards, while Rodney Baptiste had 11 points to go along with his 7 rebounds. Guiney led everyone with 9 rebounds, while scoring 6. Starter Justin Gunter was scoreless but had five assists. Maga finished with 8, Rob Scully 3, Justin Boye 1 and Stephen Martin 1. McMaster shot 24-56 from the floor, 5-21 from the arc and 10-18 from the line while grabbing 42 boards, having 19 assists, 15 turnovers, 4 blocks and 8 steals. Reserve Justin Goggins led Windsor with 9 points. Jamal Edwards had 8 points and 5 rebounds, while Anthony Rizzetto had 7 points and 7 boards. Sadiki Robertson scored 6, John Veljanovski 3 and starter Wesley Arthur was scoreless. Mark Patterson tossed in 6, Ken Hodgkins 5 and Trevor Boose 2. The Lancers (coached by Mike Havey) also included Jared Grogan, Jermain Jackson, Rob Pragai and Antoine Terry. The Lancers shot a dreary 18-61 from the floor, 5-23 from the arc, 5-8 from the line, grabbed 35 boards, had 16 assists, 17 turnovers, two blocks and 7 steals.

       In the West semis, top-seeded Western pounded 5th-seeded Brock 93-69 despite playing without point guard Jimmy Grozelle. The Mustangs dominated all facets of the game. Chris Brown scored 22, Andy Kwiatkowski 21, Adam Peaker 20, including 4-6 from the arc. Chedo Ndur added 19 on 6-10 from the floor, while grabbing 10 boards and handing out five assists. Kwiatkowski grabbed 8 boards and had 6 assists and no turnovers despite being double-and-triple teamed. Western only turned the ball over three times and Brock only six. Scott Seeley scored 7. Sagar Desai had four points off the bench. Western shot 37-71 from the floor, 8-12 from the arc and 11-15 from the line while grabbing 37 boards, handing out 22 assists, blocking two shots and stealing the ball twice. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Western Gazette that “I would never have dreamed we would only turn the ball over three times – that has to be an all-time school record.” Adam Peaker said “I definitely think there was a different feeling going into the game. The team stepped it up for the game because if we lost this one, we would’ve been done. … They were on fire in the first half. Eventually, we got it together on the defensive end and they came back down to Earth.” Badgers coach Ken Murray said “the better team won. We had to be on top of our game to beat them but they made shots and we didn’t. I credit their players – they moved the ball very well and played with a great deal of poise.” Jamie Duncan led Brock with 24 points. Ryan Dudley added 16 and 12 boards. Erik Falk scored 9, Kevin Stienstra 6 and James Quadrizius 3, Kevin French 5, Morgan Fairweather 3, Kojo Mensah 2 and Eli Carlone 1. Badgers coach Ken Murray told the St. Catharines Standard that “Western hit their open shots and we didn’t. Instead of stepping up in the playoffs, we stepped down. … It all boiled down to we had no leadership on the team. You need to have one player in the locker room who takes the bulls by the horns and is an extension of the coaching staff.” The Badgers (coached by Ken Murray) also included Jeff Dunning, Trevor Harding, Branko Miskovic, Drew Nathan and Ian Watkins. Brock shot 27-61 from the floor, 2-13 from the arc and 13-18 from the line, while grabbing 31 boards, handing out 9 assists, blocking one shot and stealing the ball twice.

       In the other West semi, 3rd-seeded McMaster defeated 2nd-seeded host Guelph 75-68 on excellent free throw shooting and aggressive rebounding. Freshman Ben Katz hit a pair from beyond the arc to give the Marauders an 8-0 lead and then another bomb late in the half as McMaster took a 30-25 lead into the lockers. Guelph kept pounding the ball to Mike Ayanbadejo in the paint but Graham Hewitt and Adam Guiney held their own as McMaster built a 69-60 lead with three minutes to play. A tip in by Nadan Kapetanovic off a missed Kyle Julius three trimmed the margin to 69-66 with under a minute to play. But Hewitt found a streaking Rodney Baptiste for an uncontested layup and then iced the win at the line as Guelph fouled to stop the clock. Marauder Rodney Baptiste told the Hamilton Spectator that “this was a real playoff game. People diving all over the floor and running into each other. … I think the key was hustle. We did a great job with their posts and shut down the inside game.” Marauders coach Joe Raso said “defensively, we were so strong and offensively, we made some good decisions down the stretch.” Hewitt scored 18 to lead McMaster. Guiney added 13 and pulled down 10 boards. Katz scored 15, Baptiste 10 and 9 boards. Justin Gunter scored 5. Rob Scully added 8 off the bench, Justin Boye 4 and Charles Kissi 2. McMaster out-rebounded Guelph 42-36, shot 26-68 from the floor, 5-12 from the arc and 18-23 from the line, while handing out 10 assists, committing 14 turnovers, blocking three shots and stealing the ball six times. Nadan Kapetanovic paced Guelph with 20, including 16 in the second half. Michael Ayanbadejo had 14 points and 17 huge rebounds. Kyle Julius and Radhi Knapp each scored 13, although Julius struggled on the day, hitting just 5-23 overall. The Gryphons (coached by Chris O’Rourke, assisted by Shane Bascoe, Pat Dooley and Brian Moore, manager Dan Anstett, manager Brian Kosowick, trainer Rory Klatt, trainer Lee Wicksted) also included Bennet De Brabandere, Mark Halfpenny, Mark Melehes, Koven Padaychee, Chris Popofski, Curtis Seeley, Jordan Spence, Travis Sprinkerhoff, Toffer Treiguts, Jon Vermeer and Jeff Foster. Guelph was an uncharacteristic 9-20 from the line, a statistic that might have cost them the game, shot 27-64 from the floor and 5-19 from the arc, while garnering 11 assists, 16 turnovers, 1 block and 10 steals.

       In the West final, top-seeded Western thrashed 3rd-seeded McMaster 75-55 as Andy Kwiatkowski dominated the floor. The Mustangs took an early 24-12 lead and extended the margin to 39-25 at the break. Western had 17 second chance points in the opening frame as a result of 11 offensive boards. Mac had just six points off 9 offensive boards. Although McMaster rallied to within 10 in the second half, Western ran away with the win. Kwiatkowski finished with 30 points and 13 boards. Jimmy Grozelle scored 11 and dished out five assists. Chris Brown scored 10, Chedo Ndur 9 and 9 boards, while Adam Peaker scored 7. Kelsey Green added 6 off the bench, Mark Nielsen 2. Western shot 30-71 from the floor, 4-19 from the arc, 11-15 from the line and had 38 boards, 15 assists, 13 turnovers, 6 blocks and 11 steals. Rodney Baptiste led McMaster with 16 points and 6 boards. Graham Hewitt added 10 points and 9 boards. Adam Guiney scored 8, Ben Katz 7 and starter Justin Gunter zero. Rob Scully, Justin Boye and Mark Maga each scored 4 off the bench. Emanuel Ostojic added 2. McMaster shot 23-65 from the floor, 4-13 from the arc, 15-21 from the line and had 36 rebounds, 14 assists, 19 turnovers, 2 blocks and 6 steals. Marauder Rodney Baptiste told the Hamilton Spectator that “we let them do what they wanted to do. And they were beating us on the boards and getting easy baskets early.” Marauders coach Joe Raso said “we played like we were going on 5 of 6 cylinders. … We just couldn’t get going on defence or offence.”

       In the Wilson Cup, Western nipped York 55-53 to capture their third consecutive title. Andy Kwiatkowski dominated finishing with x points. Chris Brown added 12, Adam Peaker 8, all at opportune moments, and Chedo Ndur 8. Ryan French led York with 17 points and 10 boards. Chaka Harris scored 15 and Dean Labayen 10, along with six rebounds. Adam Peaker, who added 7 boards, told the Western Gazette that “the last game, I was spotting up a little too much. Today I was just trying to drive hard to the basket and draw a foul.” Mustangs coach Craig Boydell said “Adam meshed into the team maybe a little too much during the middle of the season. In the last part of the season, he’s been aggressive. He’s gotten some major buckets going to the hole and he’s always got his nose in there for some key rebound.” Chedo Ndur said “they were playing such high intensity, aggressive defense – any ball fake or head fake, they were biting on it. I figured, if they’re going to play that defense, you’ve got to punish it.” The Mustangs hit .367 from the field, while the Yeomen were .348. “The game today was extremely hard to describe,” Boydell said. “Neither team was able to run the things they would like to run because the game was definitely physical.”
       Following the season, Queen’s turfed Scott Meeson, ostensibly because a disagreement in the direction of the program between the coach and administration, according to the Kingston Whig-Standard. Two straight five-win seasons were the limit. He is replaced by Chris Oliver, assistant coach at McMaster, who also spent two years coaching with Guy Vetrie at Victoria and was associated with the Ontario juvenile boys’ team.

       In April, Brock announces that Ken Murray will take a leave to head the school’s athletic department and applied health sciences faculty in the area of alumni development and fundraising. Described as a pilot project, with assistant coach Steve Atkin serving as head coach of the men’s team on an interim basis commencing in 2002-03. Murray says it’s a year’s leave of absence prompted by exhaustion, with an option to return to coaching after a season.

       Toronto coach Ken Olynyk announces just before start of 02-03 season that he will take a sabbatical to assist the Toronto Raptors for a year as an “observing coach. … This is a great chance to get involved first hand with basketball at its highest level. And to be able to work with Lenny Wilkens, one of the most respected NBA coaches of all-time, is certainly an honour.” He’ll be replaced for the year at the U of T by assistant Mike Dodig.

The co-bronze medalist Carleton Ravens: Josh Poirier; Mike Smart; Jafeth Maseruka; Rob Smart; Matt Ross; Charlie Cattran; Ben Doornekamp; Paul Larmand; B.J. Charles; John Kulwartin; Matt Mahar; Matt McKechnie; Mark McMahon; Shawn McCleery; Bernard Edmunds; Gary Gallimore; coach Dave Smart; assistant Bill Arden; assistant Taffe Charles

The co-bronze medalist McMaster Marauders: Rodney Baptiste; Graham Hewitt; Adam Guiney; Ben Katz; Justin Gunter; Rob Scully; Justin Boye; Mark Maga; Emmanuel Ostojic; Abdul El-Danab; Jonathan Joseph; Charles Kissi; Stephen Martin; Rob Fortunato; John Obrovac; coach Joe Raso

       The runner-up York Yeomen: Danny Amponsah; Ryan French; Mike George; Dean Labayen; Tom McChesney; Branislav Misovic; Tom Romas; Ammer Askary; Chaka Harris; Scott McLeod; Ryan Millar; Adam Miller; Jerome Sta Maria; Ryan Miller; coach Bob Bain; assistant Tom Oliveri; assistant Adam Urbach; associate coach Mike Quigley; associate coach Charlie Simpson; student therapist Shannon McGrath; student therapist Jordan Katz; athletic director Patricia Murray

       The champion Western Mustangs: Andy Kwiatkowski, Chris Brown, Chedo Ndur, Jimmy Grozelle, Adam Peaker, Scott Seeley, Kelsey Green, Sagar Desai, Tim Shanks, Kurt Weiland, Mark Nielsen, Sean Byrne, Nick Salomans; Ryan O’Neill; Mark Porte; coach Craig Boydell, assistant Pete Schmidt; assistant Brad Campbell; assistant Maria Mountain; physiotherapist Steve Diacca; trainer John Thompson; SID Brian Snelgrove; athletic director Dan Smith